Beginner’s Guide: Jule Niemeier recaptures Wimbledon magic at US Open

WATCH: Niemeier made her major breakthrough in some style at Wimbledon, reaching the quarterfinals.

NEW YORK—Jule Niemeier possesses the kind of formidable power that would lead many to assume hers is a game of all-out aggression. But like much about the 23-year-old, there is more than meets the eye.

“I'm trying to be creative on court,” she said earlier this summer. “Of course, I can play fast, I can play slower, use the slice, dropshots. That's what I'm trying to do, just mix it up a bit on court so the opponent doesn't know what is coming.”

It was finesse that ultimately helped her reach her first major quarterfinal in only her second major main-draw appearance at this year’s Wimbledon Championships.

“I came here, I just wanted to win my first round after losing in Paris,” she exclaimed after knocking out hometown favorite Heather Watson in the fourth round.

While a run like that would have surely catapulted Niemeier into the Top 50 and beyond in any other year, Wimbledon’s lack of ranking points has meant the German’s schedule had to be as creative as her strategy.

That all ends at the US Open, where she’s into the third round after solid wins over 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and Yulia Putintseva. With world No. 1 Iga Swiatek possibly looming in the second week, can she get past a surging Zheng Qinwen on Saturday?

Get to know the German all-courter:

In the first couple of matches against top players, I was hesitating a bit. I thought I have to play something special. If you play those players, you just have to stay there. You have to play every point. You have to stay consistent, just focus on every point. Jule Niemeier

The Basics

Ironically enough, Niemeier ended a largely unremarkable junior career at the 2017 US Open, though her last season on the circuit featured a win over Zheng en route to a Grade 1 title at home in Berlin.

Her tour-level debut wouldn’t come for another year—playing qualifying in Nürnberg—but it wasn’t until after the 2020 tour lockdown that things started falling into place. She rolled into her first WTA semifinal as a qualifier in Strasbourg, enduring a narrow loss to Barbora Krejcikova before the Czech would go on to win both that tournament and Roland Garros.

Despite the encouraging result, Niemeier was far from satisfied.

"I lost the match because I didn't play my best tennis that day, and I could have played much better,” she told the WTA. “I expected her to play a bit better, to be honest.”

She went on to prove her mettle on grass the following month in Berlin, where she pushed Belinda Bencic to three sets—again as a qualifier, and now even more convinced she could compete with the game’s best.

“It's just about small details,” she said. “When I had two break points in the second set, she served two aces - but I felt like she just served two aces because she was so angry on court. It was not really on purpose.”

The Latest

Niemeier rounded out a trio of breakthrough tournaments with a second semifinal in Hamburg, but would settle into somewhat of a holding pattern until she leapt onto a new plateau at Wimbledon—starting the fortnight with an emphatic win over No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit.

“In the first couple of matches against top players, I was hesitating a bit,” she reflected after reaching the last eight. “I thought I have to play something special. If you play those players, you just have to stay there. You have to play every point. You have to stay consistent, just focus on every point.

“That's what I'm trying to do now, to just really use the experience and just go there. Of course, I'm showing respect, but, yeah, I'm just trying to win every match.”

That attitude has paid off in New York, where she dismissed Kenin in two tight sets before backing up the victory against Putintseva, guaranteeing a return to the Top 100—having fallen back to No. 109 after Wimbledon—and putting herself on the precipice of a second straight Grand Slam second week.

Why It Matters

Led by former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber and Top 20 stalwarts Julia Goerges, Sabine Lisicki, and Andrea Petkovic, German tennis experienced a renaissance in the 2010s. That era appeared set to close during the US Open with Kerber’s announced pregnancy and Petkovic’s retirement.

Instead, Niemeier has given her country something to cheer for during what could have been a somber two weeks in Flushing Meadows—even as the youngster looks to minimize the overwhelming pressure from a country that has delivered champions like Stefanie Graf.

“It's funny: someone was just passing today and said, 'Oh, there's the new German top player, blah blah blah.'” she joked last year. “You just have to learn how to handle it.”

So far, she’s handling it pretty well.